The cab pulled up in front of my hotel room and I groaned as I shuffled out of the backseat and onto the sidewalk. I was sore from all the flying the past couple days, and I was eager to get back to my hotel room. I had spent the night with Sophia in her mansion, and I had to admit, I was ready to get back to my own life.

It wasn’t that I disliked the girl, but there was something about her that I just couldn’t place. I wanted to like her, I really did, but I really couldn’t with the strange way she and Antonio interacted with each other. There had to be more to the story than what they were telling me, and though I wanted to just focus on the work that I was doing, there was a part of me that felt I was taking part in some sort of sham.

Not to mention I had an increasingly difficult time relating to the woman when she would constantly complain about her life. She was about to become the queen of a nation, and though I didn’t know much about royalty, I couldn’t imagine a girl as spoiled and selfish as her would be much of a queen.

Then again, I didn’t know that I would do any better. I was nothing more than a wedding planner, and for the most part, I had only worked for wealthy people who were, well, ordinary. Every now and then I had managed to add in a celebrity, but this was the first time I had done anyone as high profile as a prince and his soon-to-be queen.

I had spent most of the evening hiding in my room—dinner had been served to me on a tray and I had felt the luxury of living in a mansion for a single evening. Though it wasn’t quite the level of pampering that I would have thought, it was better than the hotel room I was just getting back to.

With every intention of taking a nice, hot bath and crawling into bed, I was glad to see the cab pull away and leave me to my own devices. I stepped quickly past the front desk and ignored the glances from the others who were in the lobby. I knew some of them were from other places in the country, and there were even those who were from the States, but most of them were Italian.

There was only one Italian who had captured my attention and I was in process of helping him join his life to someone else.

I pushed everything out of my mind as I stepped into the elevator, ready to forget about my life and settle in for a nice evening. After all, I had been given the gift of an extended vacation, even if I was going to spend most of it working. The elevator door opened and I stepped into the hall right as my phone chimed.

Looking down, I expected to see Sophia’s number across my screen, and I was thrilled to see it was in fact Antonio. He was requesting a phone call, and since I had nothing better to do, I gave him a quick dial.

“I’m glad you got a hold of me. How was your flight back?” he asked.

“I think everything went well. We got her dress straightened out, and all I have to do now is make sure that the finer details come together right at the end. Those are the kinds of things that you never really can handle in advance, and they seem to either make or break the wedding.” I laughed nervously as I spoke, and I was glad that he laughed on the other end of the line.

“Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to grab dinner with me to catch up.” He was speaking in a nonchalant tone, and I felt my foolish heart flutter. I wanted more than anything to go to dinner with the man of my dreams, and it was even better to think of him as the Prince.

But I also knew that I should be getting to my room. If I were to go to dinner with him, I didn’t know where my mind would go and I didn’t want to risk getting hurt.

“I’m really tired. I don’t think I could really manage—” I began, but he cut me off.

“I got a table at the Coral, and if you know anything about that, you’ll know that it’s really hard to get a reservation there, and I would be offended if you didn’t join me.” I could sense the seriousness to his tone, and I felt another twinge in my heart.

The Coral was one of the hardest restaurants to get into, always booked up months in advance. The only way to get there was to go by a boat which only crossed once every half an hour and only carried four patrons with it when it did cross. To be able to get to the restaurant required a lot more money than I had, and a lot more connections than I was able to make.

Antonio’s voice came through the other end of the phone, and I suddenly realized I was standing in silence.

“Oh, all right, I would love to. You know I’ve only ever thought about going to that restaurant, I’ve never been able to go, nor did I think I would ever get the chance.” The more I spoke, the more apparent it became that I needed to stop talking. I hated to think of what was going through Antonio’s mind, but then I reminded myself that it would be nothing like what was going through my own.

He had met and proposed to a woman long before he had met me. He had fallen in love, looked forward to talking to her, seeing her, being with her. He had done everything lovers do with her. He certainly didn’t want to do anything with me. Just because he was a strong and handsome prince didn’t mean he was rethinking anything. And just because he wanted to take me to an exclusive restaurant, it didn’t mean that he had any interest in me beyond business.

“Okay, I’m going to get ready, and I’ll meet you down at the docks. Yes, I’ll hurry. Oh, you don’t have to send a cab, I’ll make it. Oh, all right—no, I said all right! If you insist!”

I hung up the phone, blushing and smiling to myself, then hurried into my room and threw on the nicest thing that I’d brought, though I sensed that it wasn’t going to be good enough.

I quickly applied some makeup and checked myself over in the mirror, then I hurried to make sure that my hair was perfectly in place before I grabbed my best clutch. In my mind, I looked like a girl who was trying to fit in.

But it was the best I could do. I was being summoned by an Italian prince, and what could I do besides obey? I gave myself shivers as I stepped into the elevator, surprised that I found myself so turned on by going down to meet the cab. I knew Antonio wasn’t going to be in the cab, but the thought that I was going to meet him was enough to drive me wild.